Elizabeth's Fairy Tail
by Lady Danyrie August
Summary: What if someone else had come to Fairy Tail, and Natsu became a mage of Phantom Lord instead? Big changes to canon. Dark.
1. Prologue

I don't own Fairy Tail

This is beginning of Elizabeth's story in Fairy Tail.

PROLOGUE

The girl sat under a tree in Magnolia Park, quietly enjoying the breeze. Her eyes closed to the world, she felt the wind tug gently at her hair. Delicious smells wafted over from the nearby markets. After living in the forest outside of the city for as long as she could remember, she had decided to make her way out and into Magnolia for the first time. All she had on was the simple dress her mother had made her before she had disappeared.

One of the reasons that she had made her decision to come here was that she could feel something strange coming from the city. It was similar to the feeling that she got around the forest Vulcans that she constantly hid from, only stronger and warmer by far. It felt welcoming, and happy, not like the Vulcans. They felt angry and greedy, as well as something else she didn't understand.

As she sat there, she could feel that presence, that feeling, getting closer. Her excitement grew and she finally opened her brilliant blue eyes. Walking towards her was a short man, she could tell even from where she sat that she was taller than he was. The power he radiated was more telling to her than his size. She could feel it rolling off him in waves. It was comforting.

Quickly getting to her feet, she saw his eyes travel quickly up and down her. He closed the remaining few metres between them with a casual walk. He stopped in front of her and stared for a moment.

"Hello there, aren't you a bit young to be wandering around on your own?" the man inquired. He seemed to be concerned, although she wasn't sure why.

"I don't think so, I've been alone for a long time, since my mummy left me. I live by myself in the forest." The girl spoke honestly, she had never actually spoken to a person since her mother left, thus the idea of lying never even came to her mind.

A look of shock flashed across the old man's face for a moment, before he smiled and laughed. His whole tiny body laughed with him. "Haha, my mistake, I should have realised that you weren't from the town judging by your clothing. What's your name, br… child?"

The girl stared at him confused for a second, wondering what he had been about to say, then answered quietly. "My name is Elizabeth, what's yours old man?"

"Elizabeth, that's a wonderful name! My name is Makarov. Would you by any chance know any magic, Elizabeth?"

"What's magic?"

The simple question floored Makarov. People not having heard of specific kinds of magic, or never having seen or used it, that he was used to. For someone to not know what magic was at all? That was new.

"Magic is simply a different kind of ability that some people have. Some people use magic by using tools, like lacrima or weapons. Others can manipulate different elements to create magic. For example, I can use Titan magic, so I can change my size as I see fit."

Calling on his power, Makarov rose up to the size of an average man, around six feet tall. Elizabeth's eyes lit up with amazement, and her face exploded into an open-mouthed smile. He thought to himself that this was a proper reaction to his magic.

Returning to his usual size, he offered his hand to Elizabeth, and spoke kindly to her. "Would you like to see if you have any magic?"

Nodding furiously, Elizabeth grabbed hold of Makarov's hand tightly. He led her as quickly as their short legs would allow to the home of one Porlyusica, an old comrade and friend of his.

When the old pink-haired woman opened the door to the visitors, she was only half surprised to see a child with Makarov.

"What is it this time, you old fool? Another eye to replace?"

The spite in her tone was obvious, but Makarov ignored it, knowing that she was simply bitter to humans in general.

"I would like for you to examine this girl, Elizabeth, to determine whether she will be able to use magic or not. She hadn't even heard of magic until today, so I had no choice but to come to you."

The woman harrumphed and stood aside, allowing the two visitors to enter.

"Sit up on the bed little one, I'll just fetch something to test you with." Turning her back on them, Porlyusica headed over to a shelf and began looking for what she wanted. She returned a few seconds later with what looked like an armband, a small light lacrima attached to it.

"Alright child, I'm simply going to put this around your arm. If you do indeed have any magic, then the lacrima will light up, if you don't then it won't. I promise it won't hurt." Smiling at the small girl, she gently took her hand and began to put the armband on her.

CRASH! TINKLE!

The moment that the band had touched Elizabeth's skin, the light lacrima had shattered. Despite her obvious shock, Porlyusica had seen the lacrima light up for a fraction of a second.

Makarov was stunned. He'd never seen someone break a lacrima like that before. Usually you would have to direct a magic attack or a physical blow at them to destroy them. How the hell had the girl done that?

"Elizabeth, it's clear that you do, in fact, have magic, even if you don't know what it is. Would you please wait outside?" Makarov grinned cheekily, trying to seem somewhat comforting to the girl, who probably hadn't been expecting the be covered in shards of lacrima.

Once the girl had shut the door behind her, Makarov's face took on a far more serious expression. Porlyusica was wearing a very similar expression, although it looked less out of place on her.

"Do you have any idea how that happened, Porlyusica? I've never seen something like that before."

For a full minute the medicine woman simply stared at Makarov in silence, who was waiting patiently for an answer.

"Yes, I have an idea. I believe that the girl has a very rare ability, possibly even unique. Before you ask, it isn't lost magic. It's far older and more primitive than that, by far. I think that the girl is capable of directly manipulating ethernano. Therefore, the reason that the lacrima broke would be that she unconsciously gathered up ethernano because she was nervous, and when she came into contact with it, the gathered energy was released."

Her face was unreadable. Makarov let the information sink in, trying to figure out if he'd ever heard of such a thing.

"Would you think that the girl will be safe in Fairy Tail?"

The question startled Porlyusica; never before had the old man asked her anything about potential guild members.

"I believe that she will be safe. Just make sure that she learns to control her ability as quickly as possible. I'll drop off some books for her that I have stored away, she may be the first Ether Dancer in eight hundred years."

Surprised at her generosity, Makarov's eyes widened. "Why are you doing this for her? I thought you hated humans!"

The answer surprised him even more.

"If she's an Ether Dancer, she isn't human."

TIME SKIP

The pair had arrived at the large doors to the Fairy Tail guildhall. Elizabeth laughed as she looked up at the guild in awe.

"Do Fairies have tails? Do they even exist?..." Makarov had just begun his usual spiel about the Fairy Tail guild when Elizabeth suddenly broke into a run and pushed through the doors, far too eager to stand listening to some old man when she could people laughing and having fun!

Disgruntled, Makarov grumbled to himself as he followed her in. He was so distracted by his own thoughts that he didn't even notice the two girls clashing heads (literally) in the middle of the guild. He simply headed to his office, intending to induct Elizabeth properly later.

Meanwhile, the two girls in question were standing with their foreheads together, screaming insults at each other. One of the girls had brilliantly red hair, while the other had hair that was white as snow.

Elizabeth watched as the redhead brought up an armoured fist and punched the other girl in the face. It was certainly a strange sight, she'd never seen armour before in her life.

The other girl looked dazed for a second then retaliated with a punch of her own.

At this point, Elizabeth decided to step in. By step in, I mean ask politely what was happening.

"Excuse me, but why are you two fighting?"

Both of the girls, who were taller than Elizabeth was, turned on her and attempted to punch her out of their way. They were surprised when their fists met nothing but air. Elizabeth had instantly dropped to the floor on all fours, ducking under the punches. She rolled to the right as two kicks followed up.

This little game continued for a full ten minutes before older girls gave up. Screaming in frustration, the white haired one stormed out of the guild. The other girl simply sat on a bench and crossed her arms in a stony silence.

At this point, one of the men of the guild approached Elizabeth. He, along with most everyone else, was amazed that the girl had gone through ten minutes against both Erza and Mira and come away without a scratch.

"Hi there, you must be new here! I'm Macao, and my buddy over there is Wakaba. Why don't you come and talk for a bit?" He smiled kindly, in all honesty it was the same smile he would be using a few years later when looking at his son, Romeo.

"Sure mister, I don't mind." Elizabeth followed him over to the table and sat down on the tabletop itself, so that she could see eye to eye with the two men.

The other man, Wakaba, was smoking a cigar. She had never seen anything like it, and she didn't really like the smell, so she subconsciously shifted a little closer to Macao. Sitting cross-legged on the table, she looked from one to the other, wondering who was going to talk first.

Wakaba smiled, and then began to talk. "That was pretty impressive, young lady. Keeping up with those two is difficult even for us older wizards. You did real good! Were on earth did you learn to dodge like that?"

Elizabeth giggled. If those two girls were almost as good as the two men, then none of them stood a chance against a forest Vulcan. "Oh, I learned that in the forest where I live! It's full of Vulcans, so I learned to dodge and run and hide so they wouldn't catch me and eat me." Not noticing the shocked looks on their faces, she asked a question of her own.

"Why do you two feel different from the short old guy, Makarov?"

Confused, Macao shrugged. "I don't know, what do you mean by feel exactly?"

Elizabeth looked at him curiously. "You mean you can't feel it? Makarov feels like warmth and comfort and light, you two feel more like smoke and fire."

Wakaba dropped his cigar and Macao nearly choked on the drink he had just started to sip.

"HOW? H-how did you figure out our magics?!" Macao nearly screamed at her, barely controlling himself.

Wakaba was just as shocked, although he hadn't spoken for fear of swearing in the presence of the young girl.

"Oh, I can feel everyone and everything around me, I didn't know that it was your magic. Like the red-haired one, she felt really… empty, like she had this big hiding place somewhere close to her."

Jaws were hitting the floor across the guild as more and more people started listening in on the conversation. The 'red-haired one' in question slowly rose from her seat, having heard every word, and made her way to Macao and Wakaba's table, causing them to flinch and everyone else to return to their own business.

Speaking with a quiet voice that definitely didn't match up to the loud and abusive one she had used only a few minutes ago, the girl stuck her hand out to Elizabeth.

"Hello, my name is Erza Scarlet, it's nice to meet you. Good job evading all of my attacks, I've never seen anything like that before."

Elizabeth smiled and took the proffered hand. "Ok, hi Erza, I'm Elizabeth. Makarov brought me here today. He said something about joining Fairy Tail, but I don't know where he went."

Erza happily returned the smile, glad to be making a new friend, and pointed up the stairs. "The Master is up there, don't worry about going up, I'll call him down for you."

Turning her attention to the balustrade, she yelled "MASTER!" loud enough that most people at the neighbouring tables covered their ears.

Makarov made his appearance within seconds, standing on top of the railing, before jumping down to the table where he could see Erza and Elizabeth. He walked along the table length to where Elizabeth sat, with a stamp in hand.

"Right Elizabeth, welcome to Fairy Tail! Where do you want your guild mark and in what colour?"

"Oh, could you put in on my arm, here (she pointed to her upper left arm) and in blue please?"

Erza looked surprised as this was very similar to her own guild mark.

Makarov stamped the girl's arm and she simply glowed with happiness.

TIME SKIP

The next morning, Elizabeth arrived at Fairy Tail early, having spent the night sleeping out in Magnolia Park. Her stomach growled and she kneaded it gently with one hand. Soon enough, Makarov arrived and unlocked the guildhall. While he was doing this, he spoke gently to her.

"Try not to cause too much trouble, we've already got enough with Mira and Erza. If it looks like they might start fighting, please try to convince them to take it outside. I'd rather not pay even more for damages than I already am." Chuckling darkly to himself, he stepped to one side, gesturing for the girl to enter first.

She bounded in excitedly, ready to get something to eat. While she waited for the kitchen to open, she thought about Mira. Last night, Erza had told her that the white haired girl that she had been fighting was Mirajane Strauss. She seemed to be somewhat similar to Erza in terms of strength, and she had a peculiar feel to her, like there was a whole other person hiding inside her.

Honestly, she had a lot of fun dodging around their attacks last night and couldn't wait for another opportunity. She'd already asked Erza if she could have a fight with her. Erza being Erza, she had accepted.

It seemed that Makarov was feeling good that morning, as he personally fetched a plate of meat, bread and cheese for Elizabeth. She stared for a moment at the silverware he put beside the plate, then proceeded to pick up everything with her hands and eat it in huge bites.

Shaking his head and laughing quietly, he supposed that was to be expected. She had lived alone in a forest for years.

It only took an hour of sitting at the bar for the target of her interest to show her face. Mirajane herself, in the flesh, walked in and of course noticed the brunette straight away. Strutting over confidently, she placed a firm hand on the girls shoulder. She didn't know the new girls name, as she hadn't stuck around the guild last night. All she knew was that she was annoying.

Elizabeth faced her bravely, straight on. Not that she was actually scared. She wasted no time in asking what she had wanted to since last night. "Do you want to have a fight with me?"

This took Mira completely by surprise. The new girl thought she could go up against Mira, did she? Clearly this girl was stupid, and Mira planned on explaining that in the most painful way she could.

A vicious smirk was plastered across her face, seeing that the girl didn't even look confident. She simply looked excited, obviously she was an idiot. Didn't she know that she was challenging the strongest wizard here? Mira wasn't ready for what next came from Elizabeth's mouth.

"My name's Elizabeth. You and Erza fight well together, you should team up on me!"

The eldest Strauss sibling thought she was being mocked and responded hotly "I don't need the tin cans help to kick your ass!"

And that was how the two versus one match came about. It was a fight that honestly changed the future of Fairy Tail for the better.

It was noon, and most of the guild had gathered themselves together on the grass outside the hall, ready for three of their young women to throw down. Someone had started a betting pool on the outcome of the match. Almost every single bet placed was on Erza and Mira, the reasoning being that both of them were very strong and the new girl looked very skinny and weak. Only the Master and, strangely, Laxus, bet on Elizabeth. The odds were being placed at 50-1.

You had to feel sorry for them.

Once all bets were placed and the contestants were all properly prepared, Makarov stepped forward and held out a weird stick with a green and a red circle on opposing sides. Holding up the green side to face the girls, he called out "Start!"

Erza and Mira simultaneously engaged their magic, obviously hoping for a quick finish. Erza was actually thinking that despite Elizabeth's speed in a physical fight, she wouldn't be able to keep up in a magic fight. As for Mira, she wasn't really thinking, she just wanted to fight.

"REQUIP!" Erza's form eclipsed into a white glow and when it faded, she wore in a different armour, this one made her look like a steel angel.

"TAKE-OVER: SATAN SOUL!" Mira underwent her own transformation, her body twisting into that of a horrific winged demon.

Watching all of this with wide eyes, Elizabeth forced herself to focus. This magic was clearly powerful, she could now feel far more power coming from them than any Vulcan she'd found. Her eyes darted back and forth between her opponents.

Mira was the first to make a move, screaming some spell that Elizabeth didn't hear, focussed as she was on watching for her tells. A powerful blast of dark magic shot out of her hands towards Elizabeth, who threw herself to the right, landing and rolling back to a standing position. Then she jumped straight up as another blast hit the ground in front of her.

As she jumped, she saw Erza move and curled into a ball, flipping over the hasty sword swipe. As she completed the flip, Erza was directly beneath her so she grabbed onto her shoulder, pulling the larger girl with her. As she hit the ground, she once again rolled, flipping Erza over her back and then letting her go. The Requip mage landed hard on her front hard, knocking the breath out of her.

Seeing another blast headed straight for her, Elizabeth sprung backwards. She landed on her hands, before completing a second half-flip to bring herself upright. This blast landed squarely between Erza's shoulders, driving her deeper into the ground.

Not losing focus, Elizabeth used the dust from the explosion to get as close as she could to Mira. She could only avoid the long distance attacks for so long, it would be much more advantageous to her to get in close.

The dust cleared and all Mira saw was Erza back on her feet. Her eyes widened as a whistling noise reached her eyes a split second before a very calloused foot made contact with the back of her head. Falling to the ground, Mira landed on her feet, but rocked unsteadily. Elizabeth used yet another roll to break the momentum of her fall, before continuing its momentum forwards, turning it into a tackle straight to Mira's midriff.

Mira hit the ground, the air driven from her lungs as Elizabeth planted her hands and cartwheeled over her.

Erza had waited for Elizabeth to move away from Mira, so she had room to use her Heaven's Wheel armours best offensive capabilities. "DANCE MY BLADES!" she yelled, as a dozen swords appeared and flew through the air at Elizabeth, who had just returned to her feet, and was facing Erza.

Then something strange happened. Elizabeth raised her arms in front of her, turning her face away, and the blades just… stopped. Erza felt her control over them disappear. Elizabeth waited a moment, then, not feeling any cuts or stabs, opened her eyes. Turning back to face Erza, she saw the swords motionless in the air. 'I wish they'd just disappear', she thought.

Then they did.

All hell was breaking loose in the crowd now, they had no idea what was going on.

Taking advantage of Erza's shock, she dashed forward, stopping just in front of her. She pivoted on her left foot and smashed the heel of her right foot into Erza's temple, knocking her out.

She brought her foot down and stood still for a moment to catch her breath. A moment too long, as it happened. Another of Mira's attacks connected with her side, knocking her through the air. She landed as she had before, rolling to deflect the impact, but this time she accidentally twisted and her side pulled a bit tight. Gasping for breath, she was barely able to keep up with Mira's relentless barrage of magic. Eventually though, she could tell that Mira was tiring.

Then Mira made a mistake. Realising that she was almost out of magic, she gathered up everything she had left, and cast one of her most powerful spells.

"SOUL EXTINCTION!"

The huge blast rocketed towards Elizabeth. However, it just missed, thanks to her timely jump. Mira's Take-Over faded, and she fell to her knees. Elizabeth immediately went on the offensive, ready to put Mira on the ground again, when the Master put one hand, enlarged thanks to his Titan magic, in front of her.

"I declare that Elizabeth is the winner of this fight!"

Stunned and somewhat angry, the crowd all emptied their pockets and handed the jewel over to Cana, who then passed them all along to the Dreyar men, who were laughing and hugging each other. Or at least, Makarov was hugging Laxus.

After that, the crowd gradually dispersed back to the guildhall. Elizabeth simply sat down on the grass next to Erza, who had recovered enough to sit up. Mira was lying on her back, simply looking up at the sky, exhausted.

"That was an incredible fight, Elizabeth! To beat both of us without any real magic… I don't know anyone who could have done that. You were incredible! I just…" the scarlet haired Requip mage's voice trailed off.

"It's ok Erza, go ahead." Elizabeth spoke softly and kindly, smiling at her friend.

"I just wanted to know how you stopped my swords." She looked embarrassed, not really willing to believe that her control over her weapons was weak.

Elizabeth looked thoughtful. "I guess… I just reached out and touched your magic. I've always been able to see what I learned yesterday is called magic, and feel it. Sometimes when I was in a life or death situation like running from a Vulcan, I could touch it too. When I touched their magic, they just froze and ran away. But when I touched your magic, I could feel the magic that was actually controlling the swords and I sort of… held onto it. I didn't really realise I was doing it, I guess. Then I wished that they would go away, and they did! I still don't know why though."

Erza was speechless. She had no idea that abilities that incredible even existed. To be able to touch magic? That would be amazing! She wondered what kind of magic it was. Maybe some kind of control magic?

Seeing Erza's face simultaneously in shock and deep in thought, Elizabeth did the only thing she could think of; she dragged the bigger girl into a hug. It was then that she realised the Erza had gone back to her regular armour. 'When did that happen?' She thought.

Erza stiffened for a brief moment, then relaxed and put her arm around Elizabeth's shoulder, drawing comfort from the girls closeness.

Meanwhile, Mira had turned away and watched on with jealous eyes.

WELL holy badass, that took forever. This is the beginning of the rewrite I have planned for Elizabeth's Fairy Tail. The original was poorly thought out, so I'm redoing it all. I'm also attempting to have much longer chapters, so expect at least a week between updates on this one. Also, my Natsu and Laxus fic is still currently my main fic. When that one finishes, this might get updated quicker.

I love every single person who reads my work, and I hope that you enjoyed it!

ALSO I AM ISSUING A WARNING

At multiple points of this story there will be references to and descriptions of torture, beatings, and various other horrible things. If that offends your sensibilities, you don't have to read it. People will die, and die horribly, so be prepared.


	2. Chapter 1 - Lucy Comes to Fairy Tail

I don't own Fairy Tail

Imagine a Fiore where Natsu Dragneel had been found, not by Makarov, but by Jose from Phantom Lord. A Fiore where the twin dragon slayers of Phantom Lord were renowned for their cruel deeds and brutal efficiency. A Fiore where Fairy Tail is not the top guild, but the second from the top.

Imagine that someone else had been found by Makarov instead. A young girl, who had no idea of the magic she possessed, and to whom things just seemed to happen…

This is the story of HER Fairy Tail.

(A/N try playing the full version of Snow Fairy when reading this. It's what I listened to when I wrote it and its probably my favourite song ever. I don't ever do song thingies so please understand that this is a one off thing)

It was a beautiful afternoon. Blue skies overhead, green-leafed trees covered in colourful flowers. Sun beating down gently. A light breeze cooled everything perfectly.

It had been six months since Lucy Heartfilia had run away from her home. In that time, she had travelled far across Fiore in search of the guild of her dreams.

"Fairy Tail…" she sighed, wistfully thinking of the one place she wanted to be. She had finally tracked down the city where the Fairy Tail guild resided. She was now sitting on a train, looking out the window at all the wonders of the world, on her way to Magnolia.

She knew she wanted nothing more than to join the famous guild. They might not be the strongest guild in Fiore, but they were the best in her eyes. Those freaks in Phantom Lord just gave her the creeps.

The trains announcer shocked her out of her reverie as the final stop, Magnolia itself, was called. In five minutes, they would reach the station, and she could finally get to Fairy Tail!

Her excitement, which had begun to creep in hours ago, was reaching fever pitch now. She could barely contain herself as she stepped out onto the platform. Up the main street, she could now see a huge building, the object of her dreams.

She kept herself calm by counting her paces while her imagination ran wild. She began to think about who would be there. Would she be able to meet Mirajane? The bikini model was something of a hero to Lucy.

She remembered a special feature in Sorcerer Weekly about the S Class wizards of Fairy Tail. There were currently six. The aforementioned Mirajane, Titania or Erza, Laxus, Gildarts, Mystogan, and Elizabeth. Only two of their pictures had actually accompanied the article, those of Erza and Mirajane but they all sounded really awesome!

While Lucy approached the guild hall, someone inside the guild hall stirred. They slowly pulled themselves up off of the bar, and looked past all of the loud-mouthed Fairy Tail guild members. A lone magic user appeared to be walking towards the guild. A new recruit? Or someone with a request? Losing interest, she laid her head back down on the counter, using her soft brown hair as a pillow.

Lucy stood right in front of the guild doors. This was it! she told herself. Steeling her courage, she pushed the doors open and walked inside to find…

A really loud and messy guild hall full of people. People were laughing, people were cheering, people were fighting, people were eating or drinking. Towards the back, she could see two people sitting at a bar. One of them was asleep on the counter, the other had their head tilted back with a barrel of booze to their lips.

Lucy gasped when she saw the woman behind the bar. She recognised Mirajane Strauss instantly, her platinum blonde hair and stunning face a dead giveaway. Gulping, she walked towards the bar.

Mirajane was currently chatting and giggling with the inebriated woman holding a barrel. When Lucy approached, she turned to face the newcomer and smiled dazzlingly at her.

"You must be new, welcome! I'm Mirajane. Can I help you with anything?"

Lucy attempted to speak but her brain was shorting out. Mirajane was talking to her!!!! She had waited all her life to meet the woman in front of her.

The white haired beauty frowned. "Are you ok? You don't look so good."

"I'm sorry I just really think you're amazing and I've wanted to meet you forever and I really want to join Fairy Tail and you're so pretty…" Lucy had somehow managed to fit all of her rant into a single breath by speaking very quickly. Luckily, Mira had understood.

"Thank you so much! Of course you can join Fairy Tail, where do you want your guild stamp?"

That's when Lucy realised something. She asked curiously "Doesn't the master need to do that?"

Mira just giggled. "Normally yes, but since he is away at a meeting, I'm filling in. The only other S Class mages here right now are Gildarts and Elizabeth (At this, she pointed towards the sleeping girl) and neither of them are much good at paperwork. So until he gets back tomorrow, I'm the acting guild master!"

Somewhat taken aback by the fact that the plain-looking girl on her left was an S Class wizard, Lucy took a second to think before responding. "Ok sure, can I get the mark on my right hand in pink please?"

Five seconds later, Lucy Heartfilia was a member of Fairy Tail.

Fairy Tail's newest member took a seat at the bar, between the drunk and Elizabeth. "Anything you'd like to drink um…"

"Lucy"

"Anything to drink Lucy?" Mira finished.

Lucy shook her head. "I do have a few questions though. If you don't mind answering them."

Now it was Mira's turn to shake her head. "Not at all, fire away!"

Taking a breath, Lucy began with the obvious one (to her anyway). "So what exactly makes you S Class? And for that matter, Elizabeth and the others?"

"Good question Lucy." Mira looked off to the side, deep in thought. After a moment, she turned back to Lucy and smiled again before replying. "I guess it's just that we have proven to the master that we are strong, smart or good leaders. For example, Erza, Laxus and I became S Class very close to each other because we were very strong. Erza is also a very good coordinator and strategist. Gildarts got in as S Class simply because he's almost as powerful as the master, and Mystogan because he has incredible control of multiple different forms of magic."

Jerking her thumb over to the girl next to Lucy, she continued. "As for that one, it's because she is amazingly resilient and determined, along with having a good head on her shoulders and a really rare magical ability."

This caused Lucy to sit up a bit straighter, her curiosity piqued. "Oh? How rare? What is it?"

Mirajane flashed another one of her famous smiles and answered "She's an Ether Dancer, one of a kind in the world. She can manipulate ethernano directly, she doesn't need a magic circle or a specific element to attack with magic. That means that she is practically unbeatable in a magic fight, unless the mage she faces is quicker than her, although that isn't too difficult, considering how it can take a lot of time to draw a large amount of ethernano from around her."

"Oh I see… What about physical fighting then?"

"You've got a quick mind Lucy, that's good. Yes, well as the 'Dancer' part of the name implies, she is incredibly agile and flexible. She can move really fast and hits way harder than you'd expect her to. And that's not taking into account her ethernano manipulation, where she can strengthen her physical attributes to some degree."

Lucy's mind was racing. Someone as powerful as that was still just a little girl? Incredible! She figured she had made the right choice coming to Fairy Tail.

Maybe one day she'd be able to go on a mission with one of the S Class mages, and see how they actually fought. That would be so cool!

Her thoughts were interrupted, however, as a certain brunette had just woken up again.

"That's not all I can do."

Lucy yelped, the voice talking in her ear had scared her. She turned around to face Elizabeth and got her first real look at the girl. They looked to be about the same age, although they were vastly different in appearance otherwise.

Her own face was smooth and white. This girl's face was rugged and browned with tan. She also had a mirage of small cuts on her face, as well as a huge scar across one cheek. Her hair was also very different. Lucy's hair was yellow blonde, and about waist length. This girls hair was brown and went down to her feet. It was also… How should she put this politely?... Wild. Twigs, dirt and leaves were all through her hair. Somehow, despite this fearsome appearance, she was actually really skinny. Her arms were thin and looked underdeveloped. Her legs where a bit thicker, but still not mature. Her hips were wide, the only real sign of her femininity, as her breasts were… almost non-existent.

Still startled, and a little apprehensive about talking to the crazy looking person seated next to her, Lucy stuttered out "W-what else c-can you do?"

The girl laughed then, a rich sound, full of joy and heart. "I can't really, I just wanted to see the look on your face! There's no need to be scared of anyone at Fairy Tail, love! We're all one big family; we'll look after you no matter what!"

Lucy laughed too then. She supposed it was funny, after all. Then Mira cut in on the conversation. "She's right you know. We really are a family here. Now that you're a part of it, you should probably go say hi to everyone!"

Standing up from her seat again, Elizabeth reached out, grabbed Lucy's hand, and pulled her around to each table in turn, introducing her to all the different and fantastic people in Fairy Tail.

That night, Lucy almost threw herself onto the bed. She had not found a place of her own yet, so she was staying in the spare room in Elizabeth's house for a while. Looking up at the ceiling, she reminisced about her day.

She had met so many people who were nice, smart and kind, not to mention that they all had incredible magical abilities.

So far, she really liked Mirajane, she was even prettier in person than in her photoshoots and she was almost insanely nice to boot. She liked Levy as well, apparently the only other bookworm in Fairy Tail. Grey was cool, he used Maker magic and had a good head on his shoulders despite his habit of stripping.

Then there was the girl she was currently rooming with. Elizabeth was a bit of a mystery to Lucy. She could act hyperactive and fun one minute and then go deadly serious to offer help or an opinion, before switching back to fun again. Then again, that was probably why she was so respected in the guild. She knew how to have fun, which was important in Fairy Tail (Mira had told her this later) but she also knew when it was time to work.

As she drifted off to sleep, her mind went to the spirits under contract with her. She'd paid them no mind today, but she wondered if they would be able to have as much fun here as she was. She certainly hoped so.

For the first time since leaving home, she went to sleep comfortably. No fears or worries of what tomorrow would bring.

-TIME SKIP-

"Hey new girl, uh… Lucy! You want to come on a job with me?" Grey Fullbuster was standing by the request board, shouting across to her at a table near the bar. She turned her head to look at him, but quickly looked back again when she saw his state of undress. Confused at her action, he looked down at himself.

"God dammit, when did that happen?!"

Despite herself, Lucy giggled at his ridiculous antics. Only a total idiot could manage to be both a powerful wizard and a subconscious stripper. She resumed her solemn inspection of her keys, which she'd been polishing, while Grey looked for his clothes.

He came up and tapped her on the shoulder. Speaking far more softly now, a grin spread across his face as he talked. "I found a nice easy job for us. That is, if you're interested?"

He put his hand out alongside hers, waiting expectantly. With a rather dramatic sigh, Lucy took it and stood. A thought popped into her mind and she grinned wickedly.

"Alright, Grey, I'll go with you, but on one condition. I can kick any part of your skin that I can see, got it? Hehe!" Chuckling evilly, she skipped out of the guild with Grey in tow, to the laughter of most of the wizards sitting in the hall.

At that exact moment, another pair of wizards was travelling through a very rough patch of forest, their destination a foggy swamp known for harbouring a Dark Guild.

The first wizard was tall and lean, but well-muscled. He had a mane of black hair that cascaded down his back haphazardly. Metal studs were imbedded into the skin of his face. His clothing was a mass of black and grey, his shirt tight-fitting, and studded around the collar and short sleeves. He wore studded gloves as well. More loose-fitting pants and black boots completed his outfit.

Walking in front of him was a slightly shorter man, who had salmon pink hair. It was shorter than his companion's, but no less wild. He wore an open vest and a white scarf patterned like scales. He also wore baggy pants, covered with an open skirt. He wore sandals instead of boots.

The shorter man stopped suddenly, raising his face high, and sniffing. "I can smell the scum. The hideout must be pretty close. Plan of attack Gajeel?"

The larger man, Gajeel, thought for a moment. Then a horrifyingly evil grin lit up his face. "You put a little fire behind them. Drive them out to me. Then we can catch them between us. Gihihi, this will be fun!"

An almost identical facial expression fixed onto the other man. The plan set, he wandered off around the still-hidden hideout. His sense of smell quickly led him to his target. Finally, the object of his mission came into view. A large wooden building came out of the fog. He silently completed a scouting lap of the building, to ensure he attacked its rear. Satisfied, he approached the back wall and gathered up a large breath.

"FIRE DRAGON'S ROAR!!!"

The attack blasted out of his mouth, a huge stream of fire that blew a hole in the half-rotten wood and caught it on fire. He quickly shut off the attack and began throwing more fire at the ground, pushing the startled and panicked Dark wizards out the front door. The surprise attack had them all scurrying for safety.

It wasn't their lucky day. They ran out of the frying pan and into the fire. Or, perhaps the other way around in this case. As soon as they exited their burning guildhall, they were met with cold, hard iron. Gajeel had blocked off their escape with his own body, large iron clubs extending where his arms used to be.

Faced with choosing between being burned alive or smashed to pieces, most of the frantic mages chose to charge Gajeel. Of course, there was no right answer here. He retracted one of his arms and it began to change again as he called out another attack.

"IRON DRAGON'S SWORD!!!"

His arm morphed into a large black blade with spikes protruding along the edges. He grinned as he swept it towards the enemy wizards, cutting them down with literally zero mercy. Cries of pain echoed eerily around the swamp as they all fell, clutching deep cuts or vicious burns. No one was dead, yet, but heck with it! These two didn't care if any of the Dark wizards accidentally died while they were fighting them.

All in all, this had been a laughably easy job for the two Dragon Slayers. Gajeel approached his companions, stepping on rather than over any fallen wizards in his way.

"Another easy one, huh Salamander? Remind me why I let you pick jobs again?"

He grinned, but this time it was far more good-natured. Salamander laughed. Flicked a bit of fire at Gajeel with his finger, he retorted quickly; "Because unlike you, metalhead, I like sleeping in a bed occasionally! You always pick jobs that take weeks of camping out."

Brushing the flame off of his shirt, Gajeel joined in with his partner's continued laughter. He threw an arm around his shoulder then pulled the pinkette into a headlock, while simultaneously knuckling his partners head.

"Aw, come on Natsu, you know you love sleeping with me! It's always fun camping out, right?" Natsu went bright red, and giggled as Gajeel released him from the headlock.

They tied up the *cough surviving members of the Dark Guild, and herded them along in single file, straight to through the forest and towards the nearby town of Hargeon. The journey took a couple of hours, during which the only words to be issued from their mouths were gruesome threats to their captives. Once the scoundrels had been handed over to trembling Rune Knights, the Twin Dragons of Phantom Lord made their way back to Oak Town.

Hey guys, me again. Sorry this chapter took so bloody long, I just haven't been able to spend much time writing these past few days.

So yeah, even the army is afraid of Natsu and Gajeel. Yay! Be ready for much more brutal things to come!

Love you all.


	3. When Gildarts returned

I do not own Fairy Tail.

Imagine a Fiore where Natsu Dragneel had been found, not by Makarov, but by Jose from Phantom Lord. A Fiore where the twin dragon slayers of Phantom Lord were renowned for their cruel deeds and brutal efficiency. A Fiore where Fairy Tail is not the top guild, but the second from the top.

Imagine that someone else had been found by Makarov instead. A young girl, who had no idea of the magic she possessed, and to whom things just seemed to happen…

This is the story of HER Fairy Tail.

The steady thud of his footsteps kept him company. He'd been trudging down this road for six weeks now, and if not for the constant sound of his own feet he would have been walking in total silence.

He wasn't a green adventurer, so at least there was no 'honeymoon' phase of singing and whistling before the excitement inevitably faded and the drudgery of the road took over. He was well acquainted with the monotonous road and he loved it. There was something incredibly intoxicating to him about going wherever he wanted under his own power. Of course, he had been acting on a job request, but that didn't mean he had to head straight to the job and straight back again.

Especially after that thing had happened.

Ah well. He was only a few hours away from home now. It would be so good to be home, it had been about three years since he had last set foot in Magnolia.

He stopped all of a sudden, a wild grin on his face, as he felt a flash of a very familiar magical signature. In turn, the man let out a small amount of his own magic, letting it act like a beacon.

He wasn't disappointed. Within a few short minutes, the person who he had sensed appeared at the bend of the road. Pink hair bobbed up and down as the figure ran at him. Following behind him was a person toting long and wild black hair.

"Gildarts!"

Natsu called out to his old friend and rival. It might have been a one-sided rivalry, but both men enjoyed it immensely.

"Hey Natsu, how's it going? Who's your pal?"

Natsu smirked while the black-haired man scoffed and looked away, clearly disinterested. Gildarts sensed there was something there he shouldn't pry into.

"I'm doing pretty well old man, Gajeel and I are just headed out on a mission. Bunch of Dark mages to round up. How about you Gildarts?"

Smarting a little at the 'old man' comment, Gildarts looked over at the man Natsu had identified as Gajeel. He had the same kind of presence as Natsu, which could only mean...

"Gajeel, was it? You're a Dragon Slayer too, aren't you?"

Gajeel looked straight into Gildarts' eyes and spoke in a tone that would make a lesser man squirm.

"Yeah, I'm the Iron Dragon Slayer. You got something to say?"

Gildarts shook his head, a polite and warm smile on his face. Turning back to Natsu, whose excitement was pouring off of him, the older man shrugged off his pack. This was what their rivalry was about; Natsu wanting to become the strongest, and Gildarts refusing to budge.

Taking a step back, Natsu lowered himself into a half-crouch. Gildarts spread his feet to shoulder width, and leaned forward a little, anticipating a frontal attack.

The boy's arms circled in big sweeping movements, fire spreading out from his fingers to cover his arms entirely. Then, strangely, he began to spin on his toes like a dancer, whipping around faster and faster. As the flames climbed higher and higher into the sky, Gildarts couldn't help but be impressed by the boy's progress. He was well on the way to mastering the use of his magic.

Then he remembered that he was fighting Natsu, and leapt through the flames fearlessly. His Crash magic, drawn about him in a defensive shield, dispersed the fire as he passed through it, leaving...

Nothing.

"What?" He said aloud in confusion. He glanced around quickly, not letting up his guarded senses. There! A tiny wisp of fire sat almost out of sight next to a tree. Natsu must be able to move through his fire now, the way Laxus moved through lightning.

He turned towards the flame, only to have his jaw crack as Natsu's fire-coated fist collided harshly with it. Genuine shock spread across his face, only to be replaced with a grin. He met Natsu's eye as the boy leapt back out of the way of the wild haymaker the older man had thrown in retaliation. There was a terrifying seriousness behind the playful eagerness Natsu had always shown.

Something happened to the boy' Gildarts thought, as he dodged a flaming kick. 'Something really hurt him'. The tiny moment of distraction as he saw Natsu's eyes harden at his inquisitive gaze was enough for Natsu to land a very nasty firey slash down his face. His claws left two deep, parallel cuts along the man's right cheek. At least they were instantly cauterised by the flame... but that didn't stop them from hurting.

"AAAAARGH!!" Gildarts yelled as he reflexively lashed out at Natsu far harder than he intended. His magic automatically gathered around his fist as it collided with Natsu's shoulder. The boy's eyes widened to inhuman size as his shoulder joint was rather painfully disassembled, his arm dropping to the ground. Then he dropped to his knees, roaring in pain and anger. Flames swirled around the wound, and they slowly took shape into a brand new arm.

Gildarts' expression morphed from horror to astonishment as the new arm settled from flame to flesh. Natsu's pain faded, and he shut his mouth, staring hard at the older man. Said older man stood slowly, squaring his shoulders and crossing his arms.

"Now, I would apologise for, uh, destroying your arm, but you seem to have a new one, so I don't need to, right?"

Natsu continued to stare for a long moment, then burst out laughing. He looked at Gildarts before pointedly glancing at his discarded limb. They watched in tandem as the limb disintegrated into tiny red scales.

"It's a handy little trick, more so if you're expecting to be heavily injured. I wasn't quite expecting to lose an arm, so I roared way too loudly. I did the same thing with my foot fighting a Dark guild a few months back. They ignored me 'cos my foot was stuck in a trapping spell, but I slashed it off and grew it back while they were focussed on Gajeel. Served the bastards right when we beat 'em up."

Gildarts nodded sagely, trying to keep his impressive air intact. Natsu shattered that with a single uninterested glance. Stepping forward to stand right in front of the Dragon Slayer, Gildarts placed his hands on his shoulders.

"You've certainly grown up a lot, Natsu. You have a hell of a lot of power now, and you know how to wield it. I'm proud of how much you've grown. One day you'll surpass even me! Just remember to keep all of your friends in mind, don't forget about them in your pursuit of power." He glanced pointedly at Gajeel, who huffed once again.

Pulling back from the boy, he laughed and said "Well, I'm gonna haul these tired old bones of mine back to Fairy Tail now, I'll see you later Natsu! It was good to meet you, Gajeel!"

Natsu waved jovially at Gildarts' retreating back, while Gajeel quietly took his other hand. Once the man had disappeared from sight, Gajeel turned to his partner and spoke softly to him.

"I always hate when you do that stupid trick of yours."

Natsu nestled his face into Gajeel's shoulder, his reply muffled by fabric and skin.

"I know. I didn't think I'd have to do it."

The older Slayer rested a hand atop his head, silently accepting that neither of them could change the past, that they had to live with what had happened. At least Natsu wouldn't be left with a permanent injury from the affair.

Makarov had been overjoyed when his strongest mage had returned. It meant he had his drinking buddy back, as well as someone to delegate some measure of paperwo... uh, responsibility to.

Although... the conversation he'd had in his office with Gildarts had been troubling to say the least.

"So, you're telling me that you survived an encounter... with that thing?! Holy hell, Gildarts, screw the quest, I'm just glad you're alive and back at Fairy Tail! He's the reason you have those scars then."

His eyes widened further when Gildarts shook his head and pointed to the scar on his cheek. "This little beauty came from our friend from out of town. He's gained a hell of a lot of power."

"Care to elab-"

"He regrew a limb in front of me."

Makarov stood in shocked silence for a few moments. Gildarts basked in the glory of shocking his aged master so thoroughly. He the grimaced as he realised he would have to explain why he'd had to regrow said arm.

After calming down, Makarov gave voice to the dreaded question.

"What did you do?"

Sighing, the man let his shoulders slump before answering.

"Well, we had a little fight to see how strong he was. He was fighting with a seriousness I've never seen in him before and he surprised me, cutting my cheek. I... uh... may have accidentally disintegrated his shoulder with my Crash magic on a reflex."

"YOU WHAT?!"

"Easy, easy! He grew it back! Made a whole new arm out of fire!"

"THAT IS BESIDE THE POINT! YOU DESTROYED A KID'S ARM!"

At this point, the veins in his forehead were standing out quite vividly. The shocks of the conversation were manifesting in a rapidly progressing bad mood. Having now been both stunned and angry, he would soon move on to hysteria.

Thankfully, Gildarts recognised the danger signs and headed it off before it became a problem.

"The important thing is that we report that beast to the Council. I plan to make a trip to Crocus and around a few other places, I'll stop by on the way. Just give me a few days to recover from the journey, all right?"

Makarov nodded. Thank god Gildarts actually stepped up occasionally.

"Alright. Just wait at least until I have returned from the Master's Conference. I don't want Mira to be the only S-class mage here."

Gildarts nodded.

"So you're the one I've heard about... you don't look like much, Elizabeth of Fairy Tail, but your impeccable track record and sizeable bounty are... very enticing. Perhaps I will trouble myself with your capture, after all."

The figure turned on their heel to begin pacing the room in front of the Farseeing Lacrima. Their cloak, which was enchanted by a Shadow mage from the Eisenwald guild to completely obscure their features while they wore it, hung on the single coat hook beside the door of the room.

The innkeeper would probably ask for money in the morning. They had to be gone by then. Donning the cloak and gathering their few supplies into a bag, they took one last look around the room.

As the figure leapt out of the window, they smiled, thinking about their new task.

'Oh, this will keep me entertained... Elizabeth.'

AND THAT is another chapter!

I am so so sorry that I have not uploaded anything in so long, and that it isn't even my main fic, but I've honestly been finding it hard to write that series with so little support since about chapter 7. I will continue to write a few bits and pieces, but I will NOT be posting anything more on that fic until I get some more interest.

I will be updating THIS fic more regularly though, hopefully once a week. We shall see.

3


	4. Elizabeth Goes On A Job

**I do not own Fairy Tail.**

 **Imagine a Fiore where Natsu Dragneel had been found, not by Makarov, but by Jose from Phantom Lord. A Fiore where the twin dragon slayers of Phantom Lord were renowned for their cruel deeds and brutal efficiency. A Fiore where Fairy Tail is not the top guild, but the second from the top.**

 **Imagine that someone else had been found by Makarov instead. A young girl, who had no idea of the magic she possessed, and to whom things just seemed to happen…**

 **This is the story of HER Fairy Tail.**

This was going to be the most tedious job she'd ever gone on. A four-day walk past Mt Hakobe and a freezing cold cave stake-out. Not exactly fun. At least the strong mountain magic could be manipulated to keep her warm. At least... what a load of comfort that was. At least you won't freeze to death while you're hunting a small guild of Dark wizards making an exchange of highly dangerous and illegal Flaming Wolves. Great!

There was a reason this quest was S class. The pay might be a little mediocre for such a long and dangerous mission but at least it would be interesting. Flaming Wolves... she'd heard about them from Gildarts and Natsu on seperate occasions and got completely different stories. The wild Fire Dragon Slayer obviously hadn't encountered any difficulty with the creatures; they did use _fire_ after all. He'd told her about how fun they were to fight.

Gildarts had offered a different tale. "Those things are vicious. They aren't very protected but they are fast and powerful. Watch the tails, the bastards can light them on fire." Of course she'd immediately pointed out that they were talking about _Flaming_ wolves, and that being on fire should be obvious. That earned her a smack on the shoulder.

It might be a week before they made a move. She had no idea when the client was actually go-There! One of the Dark mages stepped outside, their black cloak shining against the snow. An orb of light appeared in his hand, whether it was a lacrima crystal or magic, she didn't know. He didn't seem to be happy though, if his impatiently tapping foot was anything to go by.

It took a few moments, but a sled came into sight, sliding across the snow. Three more quickly caught up, and pulled behind them all was a large cage. Obviously it would be made of something a little more heat-resistant than regular steel, but she wasn't sure what.

Of course, whichever side of the law one stands upon, Murphy's Law has the final say in your fate. As soon as the first of the Wolves was loaded into the cart, it howled out what was obviously some kind of command, as all it's fellows immediately broke free of their prisons, leaping to the task of slaughtering their captors.

In the second it took Elizabeth to draw up her magic and leap into the fray, three men were dead and one was well on the way to joining them. Pulling on the vast quantities of magic in the air, she ran across what appeared to be thin air towards the men, unleashing a concussive blast of magic that she knew would knock out the weaker mages, and hopefully scare at least some of the wolves away.

In short, it did scare the wolves, but not _away_. Instead, they all huddled together, all snarling and snapping, at _her_ , instead of the now unconscious Dark mages.

"Well, I haven't got all day, so let's get this over with you bastards!"

Eli cried, as she began to implement the magic she had stored over her watch. Her skin changed first, becoming purple-hued, and her hair stood up as if it was filled with static electricity. Other, less obvious changes, occurred inside her body, strengthening her bones and making her muscles more flexible. Her teeth sharpened into needle-like points, and she grinned maniacally at the huddled wolves as finally her eyes were drained of colour, replaced by a blank white.

She saw the magic coming off of their tails intensify and knew they were preparing to attack, so she howled and lunged forward with a frightening speed, swinging her left foot up and into the jaw of the leader of the little pack.

The blow landed true, and the instant snapping sound and consequent whimpers were almost immediately followed by the crunching of snow as the wolves retreated after their injured leader.

She was vaguely disappointed. She had only landed a single blow on them, and the buggers hadn't even stuck around to finish the fight? Cowardly beasts. These were nothing like the proud and strong opponents Natsu had spoken of.

She turned back to the gruesome and annoying task of binding all the (surviving) Dark mages. Really, had these idiots only left eight guards with these creatures? Talk about incompetency. Either way, she looked at the trussed up group and decided to deploy a small, portable containment field that she had... ahem... appropriated, from the Magic Council, around the mages. Not only would it stop them from using magic, but it would also alert the Council Rune Knights of their presence, and she wouldn't even have to drag the morons back to town!

The only problem now was the wolves. It had been a part of the mandate that the wolves were to be put down, and as much as she hated it, she recognised that they were dangerous, and in the wrong part of the world. She sighed heavily, drawing a breath deep into her lungs, and then took off in pursuit of the wolves.

Snow churned and flew about as she passed, steadily picking up speed both thanks to her enhanced state and the slope of the mountain. The flames and magic of her target's tails' was slowly growing larger in her vision.

And then they disappeared. Eli skidded to a stop, her momentum sliding her through the snow for a good twenty metres before she fell flat on her face. She picked herself up quickly and brushed herself off. The wolves had reached the forest, and it was useless to simply run after them. They could see far better in the dark than she could.

"Damn animals."

"Got a problem with animals?"

At the unexpected voice, Elizabeth pivoted on one foot, swinging her other ankle around at high speed, set to impact her potential attacker in the jaw. Her foot was caught however, and she found herself thrown over backwards into the snow.

She came up spluttering and growling about uncultured men. Her mysterious attacker was, in fact, none other than Natsu Dragneel. Oh, and Gajeel was there too. Great. Of course, she only managed to stay grumpy for a few seconds once Natsu's goofy grin was lit up by the flaming hand he brought to shoulder height to wave.

"How ya doing, Eli? Long time no smell!"

She launched herself at him, dragging him into a very rough embrace, gripping his shoulder with one hand and wrestling one of his with her other. Gajeel rolled his eyes at the display and walked over to join them. His arms easily encircle the pair of them, and they found their cheeks smooshed together, so they growled at each other playfully. When they seperated, the two Slayers looked to her expectantly for a moment before Natsu allowed his impatience to win out.

"Come on, tell us! Why were ya chasing those wolves?"

Grinning sheepishly, she rubbed the back of her head as she answered. "Well, I had to kill them cos they escaped from these mages who I beat up, and I just kinda lost them in the forest. I can't scent track like you guys, so I was gonna let them settle and then track them later by looking for signs of hunts."

Gajeel nodded, it made sense. She'd always had a keen eye for strategy, and she almost never got into anything without at least two contingencies. He knew from personal experience how crafty she could be. She'd managed to give the pair of them, despite their highly advanced senses, the slip several times in the past by using rivers and the wind to cross scent tracks over and make it hard to find what direction she'd actually moved in.

"So do you want a hand taking them in?"

She shook her head.

"Now that you're here, I'll leave the wolves to you. The Dark Mages will be being taken in by the Knights any time now, I set the beacon twenty minutes ago. I'll head back and wait for them. I can put the reward in the usual place. That sound ok?"

Both Slayers nodded and grinned. Seems like they had a fight to pick now. The three said their goodbyes, Natsu and Gajeel heading into the forest, and Eli back up the mountain.

By the time Eli had found where she'd left the Dark Mages, an hour later, the Rune Knights had already shown up and were busy processing the prisoners. They must have had a teleporter, she mused. Oh well. Now was as good a time as any to start heading back to Magnolia. She'd grab the reward from the Council Outpost on the way and deposit the money in the joint account she and the two Phantom Lord mages shared.

Upon arriving back in her home in Magnolia, Elizabeth realised something wasn't quite the same. It took her a few minutes to remember that she'd allowed the newbie, Lucy, to stay with her. She spotted the titular blonde sitting at the desk she would literally never use, writing something in a notebook. A grin slowly crept onto her face. It seemed that she hadn't realised her host was home.

The S-Class mage stepped lightly across the floor, her soft boots making almost no noise, and she prepared herself for whatever the girl's reaction would be.

Leaning down to Lucy's level, she breathes a slow breath right past the unsuspecting girl's ear. Lucy reacts instantly, shrieking and leaping out of the chair. She spins around, grabbing hold of the desktop for support, her chest heaving as she slowly calms herself upon seeing who it was that scared her.

Elizabeth simply raises an eyebrow at her, as if questioning her reaction.

"Don't... don't do that..." Lucy whines weakly before bursting into laughter, joined by Elizabeth a moment later.

When the two girls finally managed to calm down, Lucy asked her about the job. She seemed interested in what an S-Class quest entailed, and Eli had no problems with telling her the whole thing in sordid detail. At one stage, Lucy jokingly complained that her descriptions weren't detailed enough, so Eli spent the next twenty minutes describing the patch of snow she'd lay in.

She got to the part where her friends had shown up, and paused. Lucy waited patiently, but her confusion of the hesitation was obvious.

"Then I ran into a couple of old friends of mine. We talked for a while, and then we went our seperate ways. They wanted to hunt down the wolves, so I promised them a part of the reward and let them go. I hiked back up the mountain to the Mages, and met the Rune Knights there. I headed back to the Outpost, picked up my reward, and here I am!"

The new girl frowned. She could sense that there was something more to the story, but she didn't push it. Her face lightened after a moment.

"Well, shall we head to the guild? I heard that someone was coming back soon."

Elizabeth readily agreed. She was hungry, after all. And Gray owed her a drink. Lucy carefully stashed her notebook away in one of the draws of the desk, and the two girls were on their way. Lucy chattered about life at the guild. Elizabeth stayed mostly quiet, thinking. She'd always been a solitary person, but she did make a decent effort to be sociable most of the time.

Upon entering the guild hall, Elizabeth noticed immediately that something was very, very right. Not only was Gray actually present, and clothed! But he had a spare drink sitting in front of him. He spotted her and waved her over, while Lucy drifted over to the job board.

"Hey, stranger, what's a gal to do for a drink in these here parts?"

She put on a accent similar (or so she thought) to Bisca's and was rewarded with a snort of amusement from her friend.

"Yeah, yeah, sit down, you can take that one, and I'll order another round for after. Oy, Mira!"

Gray yelled, a grin splitting his face wide open. The barmaid simply nodded with a smile and went to fetch their drinks. Gray turned back to her, and held out one hand. She took it firmly, and they squeezed, each trying to force the other to make a sound. Gray caved quickly, he might look bigger, but in his words, "That Eli is made of pure steel". She laughed and gave him a one-armed hug, her beer mug in the other hand, and they both drank deeply.

"So what've ya been up to Gray?"

He snorted again. She'd always found it odd that that particular sound was his go-to reaction.

"What haven't I been up to? Monster quests, looking after the newbie, teasing the newbie, getting beaten up by the newbie - for the record, I let her win - , brawling in the guild, an escort mission or two, and flirting with everything in pants!"

It was her turn to make a sound of exasperation at Gray's explanation. She'd caught him wrestling with Elfman out near the baths once, and as they both been in the buff, she'd told them to stop flirting with each other. Gray had laughed it off while Elfman had sulked for some time - something about being manly. Ever since then, they'd had a bit of an inside joke that Gray was secretly gay and flirted with men by fighting them. It wasn't true, but it always served to shut Elfman up at the very least.

"Well, funny you should mention the newbie, I came home and she hadn't noticed me. I snuck up behind her and breathed in her ear. She jumped about a mile!"

Gray guffawed, and then coughed horrendously as the beer he'd been chugging spewed out of his nose. She laughed at his plight, while he flipped her off, his nostrils and throat burning.

"Screw... you..." He managed to get out before she finally took pity on him and rubbed his back between his shoulder blades to help him calm down.

They settled down after a few minutes and realised that Mira had returned with round two while they'd been busy dying. Um, laughing. They chugged the last of their first and their second mug as quickly as they could, Gray just beating her out by a second or two.

"Come on, let's see what jobs Lucy is interested in. I've only gotten her out on one fun job since she came here and Erza will be back soon... I don't wanna be around when that happens."

Elizabeth laughed and pulled Gray to his feet. The friends slung their arms each other's shoulders and walked across to the board and the blonde.

"Soooo... Lucy what have you got there?"

The girl in question held out a job flier.

"I could have sworn I've heard the name of this guild before. Something to do with a song...?"

Elizabeth's eyebrows shot up. "Eisenwald? Oh crap, this isn't good. I don't think this should be an A-Class if _he's_ involved. Let me talk to the Master, Lucy, I'll see what I can do, ok?"

"Huh?" Came the intelligent response from Lucy. Gray chuckled.

"She's makin' sure the quest'll be safe for us to do. She's a bit rude about things sometimes and her manners are awful, but she really cares for us."

Lucy's heart warmed slightly at that, and she smiled softly. "Yeah, I guess she does."

A few moments later, the girl returned with Master in tow. The tiny Titan mage spoke first, his voice gruff but not unpleasant.

"I've spoken with Eli and agree with her assessment. This job should have been ranked as S-Class. I will, however, allow you to go on this quest with her under the provisio that Erza also goes along once she returns. I will make up the excess of the reward personally as it would take the Council months to upgrade the mission's ranking."

Lucy felt an immediate and equal mix of fear and pride. She was being trusted with an S-Class quest! She was sure that not every newbie to Fairy Tail had been given an opportunity like this.

"Now Lucy, you specifically are going under tight orders. Gray, Eli and Erza are all your superiors and I expect you to follow their commands without complaint. It's for your own safety. You're mainly going to observe. Am I clear?"

"Yes sir, I won't let you down!" Lucy smiled and clenched her fist in determination. The old man grinned at her and raised his own fist in a mirror of her action.

"Good. Gray, you'll defer to Eli and Erza as usual, hm?"

Gray simply nodded, not trusting himself not to make a smart ass comment about Erza.

Almost on que, the doors of Fairy Tail were slammed open. An intimidating looking woman in thick steel plate armour stepped into the guild. Her hair was deep, bloody crimson and Lucy was sure that there dried bloodstains on her hands. Over her shoulder she balanced an enormous decorated horn. With a sigh and a click of her fingers, the horn disappeared.

Lucy turned to Gray and whispered "Is that who I think it is?"

Gray nodded sagely, and croaked out "Yep. That's Erza... I'm so screwed."

"What did you do?"

Lucy never got that question answered as, right then, Erza seemingly teleported in front of Gray. It was then that the newcomer to Fairy Tail realised how damn quiet the hall was.

The woman towered over Gray, looking down at him with a fearsome glare while he trembled underneath her ferocity.

"H-hey Erza, i-it's good to s-see you"

Gray's normally gravelly voice squeaked as he quietly addressed the Knight. After a very tense moment, Erza's face dropped all hints of aggression and she smiled gently, pulling the boy into a hug. He looked surprised, then relief flashed across his face before he settled into contentment and wrapped his arms around her.

For a moment there was silence. Then an uproarious applause filled the hall, starting with the Master and ending with the guy who was always dancing. Lucy hadn't managed to catch his name yet.

When the two mages finally parted, Erza looked to Makarov and grinned.

"Another successful mission, I take it?"

She stuck her hand out, thumb up.

"I have a new mission for you. You'll be headed out to track down Eisenwald, destroy them, and retrieve a magical item in their possession. Yourself, Elizabeth, Gray and Lucy will be going. It is has been given emergency S-Class ranking, but the flyer says A-Class so the usual compensation applies."

Erza nodded jerkily. Beside her, Gray smirked. Unfortunately, Erza noticed, so she hit him over the top of the head.

In her head, Lucy's writer's mind started whirring, echoes of 'and thus, our band of heroes embarked on a quest of epic proportions'.

The quest, as it turned out, was a very long way from being of epic proportions. Someone appeared to have forgotten to pass Lucy the memo that S-Class jobs were boring. Because, holy hell, this was boring! The quartet had been stuck in this library for days, _days_ , while they waited for the informant to show their face. Apparently the job had originally been posted because a Council-employed snitch had made their into Eisenwald and found out their plans. Unfortunately, the spy had been ousted and was on the run. Still, they were due to meet up with the Fairy Tail mages any day now.

Lucy sincerely hoped that they were ok. She'd heard the two other women discussing in quiet voices the rumours of some of Eisenwald's past jobs. It honestly sickened her, some of the horrific things they'd done for a bit of money. When they'd started on a particular nasty job involving intestines, flagpoles and children, Lucy quietly retreated to empty her guts into a toilet.

The Dark Guild weighed heavily on all of their minds. They were scared and worried for the informant, anxious to get started and worst of all frustrated with their inability to do anything yet.

The Master would soon be leaving for an emergency Guild Master's Conference, one called to answer the threat of Eisenwald. They wanted to deal with the guild before the Conference began, it would be too tempting of a target for the Dark Mages and they couldn't afford to use their Master's as bait. Not for lack of trying. Erza had been all for it, having complete faith in their own abilities, but Eli put that train on ice when she reminded Erza that a code black had been issued by the Council on the mission flyer.

Lucy had been confused. "What's a code black?" She had asked.

"It signifies the level of force a mage is allowed to employ. Code green is exclusive to peaceful collection or diplomatic missions. It means that you are only allowed to use force equal to that used against you and only in provoked protection. Code blue is your standard monster hunting job. It restricts you from acting in public areas unless the monster is actually in that area. Code orange and yellow mean essentially the same thing, high level threats that require threaten civilisation to the point where some collateral damage is acceptable. And finally, code black. This is only issued on specific S-Class and higher level quests nowadays, as it usually denoted assassination missions. Now, it means that the level of force is left to the discretion of the S-Class mages of the party, up to and including lethal force."

Grey had picked up the explanation from there. "Basically, if this job is code black it means that we won't be penalised if we're forced to kill some mages in order to complete it. All collateral damage is acceptable within reason, too."

Eli quickly cut that off. "No, that changed three years ago. Collateral damage is still accountable."

Grey grunted acknowledgement but turned back to Lucy as if he hadn't noticed the interruption. "Don't worry about it, Lucy. Just listen to us and let us handle it. I know I don't want to kill anyone, I'll leave that to Eli. She's one of three designated code black operatives in the guild."

Again, Lucy made a noise of confusion. How many different ranking systems did the guilds have?!

"Code black operatives are mages picked from the S-Class ranks in every guild who may be called up by the Council in times of war to be drafted into the army. It just means we are trained to kill if the need arises. Laxus and Gildarts are the other two, in case you're wondering. I also know some others: the Twin Dragons of Phantom Lord are probably the most famous for being so brutal. Natsu and Gajeel are two of the toughest bastards I know."

At the time, Lucy thought it odd that Eli had spoken without worry about the two infamous (for they truly were) mages, while Erza and especially Grey had flinched away with agitated looks on their faces.

That particular conversation had left Lucy distinctly uncomfortable. The idea that one or even a couple of Fairy Tail mages were trained killers and probably already had a body count was frightening. She quickly decided to pretend she'd never heard it.

It was the evening of the sixth day that finally brought news. The informant burst through the door to the library they'd sequestered in breathlessly and immediately flopped down onto a cushion on the floor.

After a few minutes of allowing the man to rest, Erza approached him and began gently questioning him.

"What can you tell us about this mission?"

The spy looked up at her, exhaustion still clearly written on his face.

"My name... is Doranbalt. I'm a Rune Knight with the Magic Council. I issued the mission because I found out that Eisenwald had come into ownership of the legendary flute Lullaby."

The name drew a hiss from Elizabeth, a growl from Erza, an expletive from Grey and confusion from Lucy.

"They've had a seal breaker on it for a month or more by now. No doubt the seal is broken. But it's not what they think it is. Please... the flute is really one of Zeref's ancient demons... If the secondary seal I sensed is broken..."

Erza nodded. "It'll be Deliora all over again."

Grey, who had still been swearing, redoubled his efforts to exhaust his vocabulary.

Five years ago, Deliora, encased in ice that Grey knew to be his Master Ur, had washed onto the shores of Galuna Island. At least, it was supposed to be encased in ice. As it had drifted, something had happened to it, and the ice had been damaged badly. The beast's head had already broken free and it had begun to move. By the time an assortment of Council-assembled mages from various guilds had brought the beast down, the native inhabitants of the island had been wiped out and over two dozen mages had joined them on the funeral pyre.

That had been where Grey and Erza had first encountered the enigmatic Element Four of Phantom Lord, as well as the infamous Twin Dragons. The younger, Natsu, had taken particular expection to being told what to do by Erza and had attempted to fight her. She'd barely beaten him down, and once that was done, the Phantom Lord mages had left the army to sink or swim. That had been the first and last event needed to firmly reinstate the age-old rivalry between Phantom Lord and Fairy Tail, and it had left Erza and Grey with a distinct dislike of the Dragons. On the way out though, a water mage, Juvia, had apologised to Grey about their behaviour, and kissed his cheek before blushing and running to catch up with the others.

Doranbalt swallowed. He hadn't been at the Deliora Event, as the Council labeled it, himself, but his fellow Rune Knight Lahar had, and he'd seen the footage.

"If anything, Lullaby will be worse. It's song could reach for miles and it'll kill everything that hears it. It's rumoured that Zeref himself sealed the thing away. I don't even know if we could beat it if it's full power was released."

This time, Erza joined Grey in his plundering of the vulgarities of the language. They definitely didn't need an insanely powerful demon walking around. Eli coughed harshly, calling their attention to her.

"You realise that we have to move now, then, right? If they could unseal it at literally _any_ time, we can't waste time talking."

Doranbalt groaned but stood and stretched his aching shoulders.

"Come on. Everyone grab a hold of my hands, I'll teleport us as far as I can. It'll shave off a day and a half of travel. I haven't been using my magic these last few days specifically so I could take you there."

Erza took his hand immediately. "You're taking us straight to their guild hall?" At the Rune Knights nod, she seemed to relax slightly. Eli quickly followed Erza's example, and Grey was right behind the pair of them, grasping Doranbalt by the wrist just above Eli's hand. Lucy hesitated a moment longer before, the exasperated sigh Eli gave her galvanised her into action.

What followed was the very unpleasant sensation of being ripped apart and being put back together.

At the far end of the jump, Doranbalt immediately collapsed onto the ground, his magic spent and his body exhausted. Fortunately, or unfortunately as it happened, they had landed right outside the Eisenwald guild hall. The bad news part of this came from the enormous wooden demon that had demolished said guild hall.

Erza paled. Grey went further, appearing almost like he'd been drained of all colour. Lucy shrieked in horror. Eli barely refrained from doing the same. It was Erza who recovered first, and she screamed an order out immediately.

"Grey, get Lucy out of here! Priority one is to keep her safe. Freeze her if you have to! Eli, let's take this bastard down!"

Grey yelled a vague affirmation and began sprinting away, violently towing Lucy behind him. The two S-Class mages leapt high into the air, Erza surrounded by the glow of her Re-Quip, while Elizabeth shone with pure ethernano.

The armoured Knight landed on the left arm of the monstrosity and it immediately reacted, swinging the limb down towards the ground fast to try to shake the woman off. Eli flew high above it's head, her magic-enhanced jump taking her to double it's height. Before she could bear back down on it though, she found herself rapidly adjusting her magic to hold her in place. A surprised voice met her ears.

"What are you doing here? How did you find this guild?"

Before her was the famed Shinigami - Eregor himself, the ace of Eisenwald. If he didn't look and sound so genuinely stunned, he probably would have cut an imposing figure, especially with that scythe of his.

"I'm from Fairy Tail. Wanna give us a hand with the demon before we try to kill each other?"

He raised an eyebrow at the candid offer, but he seemed to have regained control of his emotions. He smirked at her after a moment.

"I suppose I can lend a hand to the legendary Dancer, can't I?"

He stuck out his hand (thankfully, the one that wasn't holding a six-foot scythe) and she spat in her palm before slapping hers against his. He looked inordinately pleased with himself, and they released the handshake to look back at the demon.

"Now... Let's get the party started!"

They both grinned at his words and dove fast towards Lullaby's hulking form.

 **How much of a dickhead am I? Leaving it right there? Haha please don't kill me. Please. I left it here because I needed more time to properly write the actual fight scene with Lullaby and I didn't want to just tack it onto the end of a chapter and not do it justice. It will have it's own, full chapter, soon enough. Maybe. I could take another six-month hiatus first. I'll be updating another fic the same day this chapter goes live, so be sure to check out that new chapter as well!**

 **Peace!**


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